Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/207

Rh up from the concussion, and their fragments were hurled far and wide. The other two torpedo-boats also committed terrible havoc among the enemy's ships, and then all three returned to the Kentucky cavern, where Tarrant was hailed with deafening cheers, and saluted as the saviour of the Anglo-Saxon Empire.

Tarrant explained the method of using the Electro-Ednogen apparatus to the captains, and then the fleet of fifty torpedo-boats was scattered over the four quarters of the globe to destroy every hostile ship they could meet with. The result was that in a few hours the destruction was appalling. High up in the air, and almost invisible, the terrible little torpedo-boats darted hither and thither, sending down their invisible waves wherever they could find a target. Calm and immovable, the captains stood by the shining cone-shaped tubes, aimed them at their prey, turned the wheel, and saw the stricken ship fall like a log to the earth. Then the pro- 13—2